Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen (Epub)

Description

In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s halftime show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it. That’s how this extraordinary autobiography began.

Over the past seven years, Bruce Springsteen has privately devoted himself to writing the story of his life, bringing to these pages the same honesty, humor, and originality found in his songs.
He describes growing up Catholic in Freehold, New Jersey, amid the poetry, danger, and darkness that fueled his imagination, leading up to the moment he refers to as “The Big Bang”: seeing Elvis Presley’s debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, he also tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized.
Born to Run will be revelatory for anyone who has ever enjoyed Bruce Springsteen, but this book is much more than a legendary rock star’s memoir. This is a book for workers and dreamers, parents and children, lovers and loners, artists, freaks, or anyone who has ever wanted to be baptized in the holy river of rock and roll.
Rarely has a performer told his own story with such force and sweep. Like many of his songs (“Thunder Road,” “Badlands,” “Darkness on the Edge of Town,” “The River,” “Born in the U.S.A,” “The Rising,” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” to name just a few), Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography is written with the lyricism of a singular songwriter and the wisdom of a man who has thought deeply about his experiences.

User’s Reviews

Review “Astonishing.” —Vanity Fair“An utterly unique, endlessly exhilarating, last-chance-power-drive of a memoir.” —Rolling Stone“Frank and gripping.” —David Brooks, The Atlantic“Bruce Springsteen’s life is now officially an open book. Born to Run takes readers on a riveting ride through the everyman rock star’s deeply lived existence.” —Associated Press“Intensely satisfying…Born to Run is, like his finest songs, closely observed from end to end. His story is intimate and personal, but he has an interest in other people and a gift for sizing them up..” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times“Springsteen can write—not just life-­imprinting song lyrics but good, solid prose that travels all the way to the right margic…And like a fabled Springsteen concert—always notable for its deck-clearing thoroughness —Born to Run achieves the sensation that all the relevant questions have been answered by the time the lights are turned out. He delivers the story of Bruce—in digestibly short chapters—via an informally steadfast Jersey plainspeak that’s worked and deftly detailed and intimate with its readers—cleareyed enough to say what it means when it has hard stories to tell, yet supple enough to rise to occasions requiring eloquence—sometimes rather pleasingly subsiding into the syntax and rhythms of a Bruce Springsteen song.” —Richard Ford, The New York Times Book Review.“A virtuoso performance, the 508-page equivalent to one of Springsteen and the E Street Band’s famous four-hour concerts: Nothing is left onstage, and diehard fans and first-timers alike depart for home sated and yet somehow already aching for more.” —NPR”Kinetic…The ultimate rock star shares like he’s got one last chance to make it real. It’s like sitting next to Springsteen in the campfire light hearing his life story — you’ll be begging for another exhilarating refrain.” —People (Book of the Week)“Excellent…very funny….eminently readable and engaging. Springsteen was also born to write. He has an active, energetic style that is part Jack Kerouac and part Instagram post.” —Asbury Park“Born to Run has a compelling narrative and an organized structure worthy of a Catholic schoolboy of the 1950s….Mr. Springsteen writes fluidly about subjects light, dark and darker. He’s funny and solemn, tender and insightful. In Born to Run, he risks his mythic stature, but he emerges as more substantial, more admirable. Now Mr. Springsteen isn’t merely a star. He is a man – a son, a husband, a father and a friend – willing to share what he’s learned.” —Wall Street Journal“Richly rewarding….Bruce Springsteen proves that he has taken on life fully engaged both in living and examining it, and in doing so, he’s delivered a story as profoundly inspiring as his best music….It’s alternately brutally honest, philosophically deep, stabbingly funny and, perhaps most important, refreshingly humble.” —Los Angeles Times”A master storyteller…. the language of his memoir often sings and leaps off the page with alliteration and pulse, especially when he’s rhapsodizing about rock ‘n’ roll.” —Will Hermes, NPR“Both an entertaining account of Springsteen’s marathon race to the top and a reminder that the one thing you can’t run away from is yourself.” —Entertainment Weekly”Bruce Springsteen is the bard of lost American dreams….The origin of poetry, thought William Wordsworth, was emotion recollected in tranquillity. That motto describes both the content of Mr Springsteen’s book and the appeal of his songs, many of which look back on youthful traumas from a mature perspective.” —The Economist“Glorious…a philosophically rich ramble through a rock ‘n roll life…. Reading his intimate look back on a remarkable yet troubled life, it’s safe to say that Bruce’s aesthetic wouldn’t be complete without this long-form Song of Springsteen. It’s the lyric he was born to write.” —USA Today (four stars out of four)“Where Springsteen soars — both as musician and writer — is in his ability to bear witness, not only to his own inner life but to the lives of those left behind in the post-industrial wastelands of this nation. Springsteen made it out of Freehold, but he never turned away from the ‘grinding hypnotic power’ of the place and its people. Born to Run’ documents the unlikely rise of a rocker hellbent not on escape, but on reckoning with the moral failings of the world he was born into.” —Boston Globe”A masterpiece….Bruce Springsteen could have put out a collection of recipes in Esperanto, cribbed from Campbell soup cans, and it would still be an international bestseller. Typically, he went the distance. And the result is nothing short of magnificent….I wish I could buy everyone a copy….This isn’t just a book for Bruce fans, but for anyone who loves rock n’ roll, the Shore or the last 40 years of Jersey pop-culture history. It’s as epic as his recent four-hour concerts. And just as satisfying.” —Jacqueline Cutler, NJ.com”He must be conceded a magic with words: He can spin not only a yarn but often an extended analysis, too…. His disclosures here are rich, deep, and useful to help destigmatize mental illness.” —Slate

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Upon my third listen, it gets better and better. Just like a great Springsteen album, there’s always something new or different, seemingly heard for the first time, that comes from multiple go-rounds.Nobody else could narrate this book. That Bruce does himself, with his own inflections, emotions, and emphasis, pulls you in and sits you right next to him at the kitchen table. And living room, bedroom, on his motorcycle, on the road, in the bar, on stage. Just like one of his songs, Bruce paints you a picture, or more accurately shows you a short film, and let’s you watch with a connecting, voyeuristic, and participating eye (and ear). And with 80 chapters, that’s many hundreds of short films the listener sees and hears.I received the book on release day. I struggled through 100 pages. I kept putting it down, and struggled to read more than 10 or 12 pages at a time. Not because it was boring. DEFINITELY NOT! But because it was so draining on my emotions. That’s how heartfelt and stirring Bruce’s stories and descriptions are. It seems every page could be penned into a song of his. And like good poetry and prose, a slow reading of the book was the only way I could absorb the detail and depth of Bruce’s storytelling.So I got the audiobook, and it made all the difference and more. Bruce is a slow reader, and it works for the best, as I aforementioned. If you love Bruce, you’ll love this book. And if you thought you knew everything about Bruce, you are sadly mistaken! Bruce shares all, and we are fortunate that this private hero has allowed us this (way more than a) glimpse into his music life, family life, personal life, psychological life, child life. If you’re a casual fan, It’s hard for me to predict your assessment of it (I’ve never been “casual” about Bruce). Music fans and musicians of all disciplines no doubt will find Bruce’s passion, and singularly focused drive compelling.This is more than a book about music. Way more. It’s the story of man who is shaped, burdened, broken by, and built up by, the countless influences of people, neighborhood, politics, humanity, religion, and psychological experiences. All the reasons Bruce is who he is. And we’re invited into his world for 18 hours or so. How lucky for us!

⭐ I read Clapton’s book and listened to the music as I went along. Did the same with Buddy Guy’s book. Both books were fun. This book left me gobstoppered. The story is good, the writing is good, the music is great,the emotions are raw. This book tells the story well enough but the author makes it real. His struggle to get noticed, to write and play good music, his strained relations with his family, his ongoing battle with depression: its all here and its real. Great book.

⭐ There were parts of this book that were incredibly profound and revelatory and humbling. I like that Bruce attempts to approach those in his life from a place of understanding and acceptance rather than in a critical way. He’s honest about his own struggles with depression. But the first few chapters almost made me stop reading. They were too wordy and I wanted to get to the story. Parts of the book are too wordy about unimportant things, though the writing is at times poetic. I think Bruce should’ve stayed part of the E Street Band, instead of becoming a solo artist. I never understood that. I think the book was too long and should’ve been edited. For a long book, we don’t learn enough about each member of the E Street Band or hear enough stories. I’m sure Bruce has plenty. Also, there wasn’t enough about his first marriage or enough explanation about his issues with his father or much about his sisters. However, I did enjoy most of it.

⭐ This is a big book, but it is double-spaced and the chapters are very short. I’m not a real fast reader, but I read it in two weeks. A fast reader could do this book in three or four days, 150 pages in one sitting. I am a big fan of The Boss, and this book pleased me. The beginning is very interesting. There is one part where he is with his band and they get spit on when they are playing on the beach for the rich kids. Then, they also played for what might be called “the greasers” crowd; think John Travolta in, “Grease.” Bruce has names for these two groups, but I can’t remember the groups names because I read this book several months ago. Nevertheless, Bruce is like it was okay to play for this group, “as long as no one in my band talked to their women.” Ha. Later, the cops come and arrest some semi-gangster at one of the gigs. There’s just so much in this book. I’m glad that I read it. However, I did have one problem. At the beginning, Bruce says that he believes in God and has a Personal Relationship with Jesus. He confesses that it is a strange relationship. But, I was shocked! I’m an atheist, and I always thought that Bruce was an atheist. What does his line, “don’t waste your summer praying in vain for a savior to rise from these streets” mean in his song “Thunder Road” if Bruce is a Christian? But of course, one could counter with “Promised Land” to say that Bruce’s song’s do have religion. Or also, Bruce’s later “The Rising” which is filled with spirituality. Anyway, there is a passage in the book where Bruce almost dies when surfing near Asbury Park. He makes it to shore and writes, “I was praying to a God that I don’t believe in.” ??? Does Bruce believe or not? I guess that the great artist is one that always has doubt, who sometimes believes and sometimes does not believe. The great artist is always considering.

⭐ If you have ever actually listened to the lyrics of most Springsteen songs (except maybe Waitin’ on a Sunny Day), you know that Bruce Springsteen is a really deep guy. There was a book published 15 years ago called Songs, which contained all the lyrics of every Springsteen song written to that time. I loved that book. I read it cover to cover, several times. You could read and contemplate all his lyrics. Born to Run helps explain the factors that helped Bruce’s amazing catalog of music come into creation.Bruce’s autobiography, Born to Run, gives his fans tremendous insight into what it was that has driven Bruce over the course of his life and career. The motivations, the demons, the anxiety, the joys, the fears, the hopes, the dreams, all the elements that have constituted the Boss’s muse over these past 50 years are explained here. And not only is Bruce one of the great writers of lyrics and music, he is a great writer of prose. He amply demonstrates this here for all the world to see. He shares his story in a way only he could.If you intend to purchase and read this book, I will tell you it is a real page turner. I could not put this book down. It has a somewhat imposing profile at 528 pages, but it is an easy read. An inspiring read. I do not want to reveal any of the revelations the reader will discover within the pages of this book, but I can say it was interesting to learn that Bruce possesses many of the same insecurities of us mere mortals.Bruce discloses, in great detail, particulars of his early years, his upbringing, the issues that influenced the way he thinks, his musically formative years, his wide held acclaim, his family, his doubts, his fears, and a treasure trove of personal details I have never heard before. I have been a Springsteen fan for over four decades. I grew up less than 30 miles from Freehold, NJ. I used to go see Bruce in those little seaside bars he used to sing about. I have seen many Springsteen interviews. I have attended over 60 shows. I have read most of the previously published articles and books. Much of the material in this book has never been publicly presented before, and all in his own words. Bruce has obviously spent much time in intense introspection, and he shares many of his insights and conclusions here.Bruce is arguably the world’s greatest showman. Now that the great James Brown has passed on, the moniker, “The Hardest Working Man in Show Business,” clearly belongs to Bruce. His unique gifts of lyric writing, musical composition, musicianship, and studio and on stage performance have rarely been seen in a single person. Bruce has won 20 Grammys (out of 49 nominations), 2 Golden Globe Awards, an Academy Award, 2 Emmy Awards, has been inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, has received a Kennedy Center Honor, and so much more. He now shows himself to be a gifted writer as well. And this book provides tremendous insights into how all that came about.Bruce’s drive for perfectionism is explained. Why “good enough” is not in his vocabulary. Bruce is keenly aware the music will last forever. Here he is, 67 years old, and still performing to sold out stadiums and arenas every time he plays. His fans love him. He knows that, and he knows why. He strives to produce and deliver the best product he can, and he almost always succeeds.If you have ever wondered exactly what it is that makes one of the greatest of this or any other generation’s musical talents tick, it is all right here. Bruce’s candor is striking. He has generally been a reserved and very private person in the past, but in this book, he puts it all out there. If you are a fan, you will love this book.Bruce Springsteen is not just one of the world’s greatest musicians, writers, and performers, he is one of the world’s greatest people. Through a lifetime of events he details here, his skills developed and he has evolved into the national and world treasure affectionately referred to as “The Boss.”

⭐ I really loved the stories from Springsteen’s early years — especially those about his early years on the Jersey music scene and those about criss-crossing the country on road trips. The book provides energetic and raucous retelling of the 50s, 60s, 70s. That, in and of itself, would make a good movie – similar to how the movie “Barry” retells Obama’s formative years in New York City. I’d recommend the CDs so you can hear Springsteen’s voice tell his tale — and if they ever did a movie, would recommend his “older” voice from this CD be used for the voiceover, not an actor’s.The middle part of the book, which tells the tale of his nationale success, is more difficult to listen to. At times, it showcases the need for an outsized ego to make it to super-stardom. Yet to his credit, Springsteen does go on to spend a lot of time and text acknowledging the positive qualities of those who helped him make it big.At the same time, I sometimes wondered if the ego needed to make it big also led him to judge these early friends a little harshly. I wondered: Did he ever go back and give any financial support to help those who, imperfect they may have been, the many people on whose couches he slept, who loaned him money, and so on…However, the retelling improved as the story continues and many of these unsettling questions start to be resolved as Springsteen talk about his relationship with Patty. So then, I began to see his story in a longer-term way, in terms of his growth as a person. The latter part of the story brings a sense of peace as you listen to Springsteen’s raspy voice talk about his day-to-day adventures as his daughter Jessie follow her own dream.I’m still listening to this CD, so my review will stop for now.

⭐ Wow Bruce. Thank you for giving your heart and soul yet again. This book of yours is about love, commitment, loss, triumph and pain. I’m from A.C. so every place of your youth resonates and kindles memories that continue to define me, haunt me, embrace me. I feel like you were the guy in my town, my high school, hanging on the beach in summer and at the surf shop, after school. We are strangers but good friends. You are a good man, a transformative leader and star but you will always be one of us. There are not too many people who get to the big big time who one can say that about. I hope you are proud….thank you, thank you. I am a grateful fan who admires you for the extraordinary human being you are, and I hope you can feel the love.

⭐ This review is from Jim Loving, husband of CKL.Let me add my review to the nearly 2300 other Amazon reviews. I highly recommend this book, for Springsteen fans, casual and rabid, and to others who may not even be familiar with his work. He is a highly accomplished American, with a great personal story, and he tells it very well. Actually, Bruce pours his heart out, as usual. He opens up. He shares, he let’s you in to better understand what makes him…. Bruuuuuce!Bruce does not write about his accomplishments or rather his awards, but here are a few of them: from About the Author: “Bruce Springsteen has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame. He is the recipient of twenty Grammy Awards, an Academy Award, and the Kennedy Center Honors. He lives in New Jersey with his family. For more information, go to www dot brucespringsteen dot net.” Additionally, he is also the recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.I read both the hard back (first 1/3) and the Kindle edition. This is an auto-biography, with Bruce telling his personal story, breaking it up into three sections, or “books”, spanning 79 chapters (making it also feel like a memoir in its format). These are 1- Growin Up, 2- Born To Run, 3- Living Proof. In the foreward, this is how Bruce describes this story:“I come from a boardwalk town where almost everything is tinged with a bit of fraud. So am I. By twenty, no race-car-driving rebel, I was a guitar player on the streets of Asbury Park and already a member in good standing amongst those who “lie” in service of the truth . . . artists, with a small “a.” But I held four clean aces. I had youth, almost a decade of hard-core bar band experience, a good group of homegrown musicians who were attuned to my performance style and a story to tell.This book is both a continuation of that story and a search into its origins. I’ve taken as my parameters the events in my life I believe shaped that story and my performance work. One of the questions I’m asked over and over again by fans on the street is “How do you do it?” In the following pages I will try to shed a little light on how and, more important, why.”It helps if one is somewhat familiar with his music, as much of the story centers around this. The good news is that one can (I did) go to Youtube to hear most of it (I was unfamiliar with much of his later work) and to see events described in the story (e.g. Danny Federici’s (near) last performance in IN playing “Sandy” (Asbury Park, 4th of July). You can watch interviews of Bruce from 2016 around the release of this book, you can see the award ceremony for the Medal of Freedom, the 2005 documentary on the making of Born to Run, the R&R HOF ceremony, many concert performances, band member interviews, and much more. Reading this book made me binge watch all of this. It was like re-discovering a story I had sort of been following most of my adult life.I am what I would call a casual Springsteen fan. He is 4 years older than me. I saw him perform only live twice – in 1973 touring in support of the Wild, Innocent and E Street Shuffle, and in 1974-75 supporting Born to Run. I was familiar with his other work because of FM radio, then the Internet and TV. Reading this book, I learned a lot about him, and his influences. I learned we have a few things in common:1- Catholic upbringing;2- Italian mother with immigrant Italian grand-parents,3- Richmond VA connection (I was born there and stayed through HS, graduating in 1972 and have returned often since visiting family)– before recording his very first album, Bruce’ first foray outside NJ was in Richmond. Reading this, I put a post on FB to a group called “Richmond Underground – 1970-1990” asking about his band Steel Mill and visits to Richmond, and as of this review 58 people have posted numerous comments, memories, posters, sightings, photos, etc.;4- Family with a history of mental illness.The fourth was the biggest revelation and the perhaps most important part of the book. Bruce openly discusses his father’s mental illness and his own battle with depression and his many years of therapy. This was an important and brave thing to do. If anyone reading has a connection to Bruce, I would love for him to take this up as a “Cause” and become a spokesman for this – he could continue to do great good.If you are a Springsteen fan – you MUST read this book. If you are a fan of American music, you must read this book. If you are songwriter, you must read this book. If you are casual fan, a great read, if you are a fan of auto-biographies of great Americans and the power of the human spirit, read this book.

⭐ .I am not a Springsteen fan. As a matter of fact I don’t even care for rock and roll music. I like this book and by reading it I became an admirer of this artist not only because of his “from rags to riches” story, but because of his admirable character displayed throughout his writing. I’ve read a number of good autobiographies and this one surpasses all of them with its honesty. How many writers admit their religious beliefs and simultaneously acknowledge their failing to live according to their rules? One has to admire his discipline in following his dream especially in the culture where drugs, sex, promiscuity were almost everyday episodes. His sincerity in relating the feelings during his long battles with depression are again commendable. It would be easy to blame his psychic problems on his father’s alcoholism etc. He was able to grasp the effect of genes, but through his faith was able to forgive his father. He is giving a proper credit for his salvation to his wife who was an enormous help during his depressive periods. What’s more he became an excellent father for his three children brought up by both parents’ belief in love. Throughout his life, he achieved many professional successes. But the reader can feel that his most treasured one has been his loving family.I strongly recommend this book to everybody who enjoys reading books about people who became stars not only in their professions but setting a high moral standard in everyday life.Karel Kriz

⭐ This isn’t so much a book about the big events in his life. It isn’t a re-telling of the stories within in his songs nor the stories told during his concerts. Stories that fans have heard. Its not a simple fan mag type book with just stories enticing his followers. This is a book falling the developing thought in a mans mind as he grows up, comes of age, navigates his middle years, and grows old. He takes you on a trip to his maturity and all the pitfalls in between. In the pages is an everyman. A man of depth, of successes, and shortcomings. A man who has mastered the stage in front of thousands of people. Yet had an evolving series of insecurities. Bruce Springsteen has been described as a common mans rock star. A populist that we could all feel comfortable with. At the end of the book you realize just how true that is. You can see a little of yourself in him.

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